Hong Kong Equestrian Team Looks Back on History

10 August 2008

Hong Kong's equestrian jumpers are in the final stages of preparing for their historic Olympic debut at Sha Tin, but they still found time to ponder what's preceded them during a stop today at the Hong Kong Racing Museum.

Kenneth Cheng, Patrick Lam and Samantha Lam (unrelated to Patrick) toured the museum at Happy Valley Racecourse with Hong Kong Equestrian Team manager Sacha Eckjans. They watched historic footage from the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, of equestrian competitors from the last century and got close-up views of previous Games' medals. William Yiu, the Jockey Club's Executive Director of Charities, pointed out a wrinkled US dollar bill, the "lucky" $1 that has been passed down among three Olympic-gold show jumpers, starting with American Bill Steinkraus at the 1968 Mexico Games. The latest beneficiary of the bill is Brazilian Rodrigo Pessoa, the reigning Olympic jumping champion, who had the lucky charm when he won in Athens in 2004. Pessoa's Olympian-riding father, Nelson Pessoa, trains Samantha Lam.

The highlight came at the end, when the equestrian trio encountered three Shetland-pony-size horse cut-outs, each bearing one of their names and scores of yellow Post-It notes. The notes have greetings, cheers and wishes written in English and in Chinese by Hong Kong fans of all ages. These three Club sponsored riders have already made history by being the first equestrian athletes to represent Hong Kong in the Olympics.

The "2008 Olympic Equestrian Exhibition" at the Racing Museum continues until 28 September.